


Turn the Page

by QueenSabriel



Category: Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-15
Updated: 2016-03-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 19:47:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6253549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenSabriel/pseuds/QueenSabriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Touchstone and his little princess through the years. (Response to the prompt "It’s a tale that never ends.")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Turn the Page

It had only been a few days since they returned from Ancelstierre, but Touchstone had not been able to sleep, not even being back in his own bed with Sabriel next to him. Tonight, like so many nights, he found himself in the palace library, a reassuring fire burning in the hearth. He looked over the shelves, trying to spot a book he hadn’t read yet. His gaze landed on a large tome – the kind made so that pages could be added – with the title “Rulers of the Old Kingdom” embossed in gold on the dark spine.

Touchstone brushed his fingers over the letters, then took the book down, carrying it over to his desk. A Charter mark flared to life as he sat, sending a bright but gentle glow over the desk as he opened the book.

He flipped through the heavy pages, pausing briefly on his mother’s pages, then settling finally on the last written entry. King Touchstone I and Queen Sabriel. Beneath their names two careful ink drawings of each of them, the dates of their coronations and wedding, Elli and Sam’s names, their birthdates. Then the descriptions, the lists of their accomplishments, the latest of which was some treaty Touchstone remembered signing a month previous. 

The next page in the book was for the next king or queen, with room for the name and a square marked off for the portrait sketch that would be done at their coronation. Touchstone hesitated a moment, then reached for his pen. He leaned over the book and, very carefully, began to write on the line at the top of the page: Queen Ellimere I.

Once he had finished he blew on the ink, then sat back to look down at his daughter’s name.

Yes. That seemed right.

***

After the Destroyer fell, there was silence so sudden it was just as painful as all the noise. Touchstone stood gasping, his brain still fighting to process everything that had just happened. As the dust cleared Sabriel and Sam both ran to Lirael, who Touchstone could just make out lying curled up in the center of the circle.

Touchstone turned, putting a hand to his forehead. He looked to his left and saw Ellimere, her shoulders hunched slightly, hands clasped to her chest. When she saw him her expression crumbled, her unwavering confidence giving way suddenly and leaving her looking more like a little girl than she had since she was, actually, a little girl.

“Daddy?” she whispered.

“Oh, princess…” Touchstone crossed the space between them, pulling Ellimere into his arms. “Sweetheart. Are you all right?”

Ellimere nodded against his shoulder.

“You were so brave,” he murmured, holding her even tighter when he felt her hands bunch in the back of his shirt. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I was so scared,” she whispered. “I wasn’t brave, I was scared.”

Touchstone smiled sadly, leaning back so he could brush some of the dirt off his daughter’s cheeks. “I haven’t stopped being terrified since they tried to kill us in Corvere,” he said. “What makes us brave is the fact that we kept going, even though we were scared. That is part of ruling. I am so proud of you.”

Ellimere nodded, but tears were welling in her eyes. She hastily wiped them away with the heel of her palm. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she whispered. “I’m not ready to be the queen yet.”

“That’s alright, you don’t need to be,” Touchstone said, pulling her into another embrace. “And even when you are, I will do all I can to make sure I am still there.”

***

“Noooooooooooo. NOOOOOOOOOOO!”

For a four-year-old, Princess Ellimere had no difficulty making her voice heard. Sam, fourteen months younger, was considerably less interested in loud noises and more interested in food, naps, and playing with his building set.

“Princess,” Touchstone crouched down so he was on a level with his very pouty little girl. “I have to go hold court, and Mommy is fighting monsters right now, so you have to stay with Nira until I’m done, all right?”

Sabriel’s eternally patient handmaid, Nira, was waiting just down the hall with Sam.

“No,” Elli said defiantly, scowling at her father before she grabbed onto his sleeve. “No. Gonna, gonna go with you.”

Touchstone gave her an indulgent smile. “It’ll be very boring, Elli. A lot of grown up stuff.”

Elli sniffed and gave him a defiant look, still holding his sleeve tightly. “Nnnnnn…”

Touchstone sighed and scooped her up as he stood again, looking uncertainly at Nira. The young woman was grinning at him knowingly. “I suppose we can try this,” he said.

There were already people in the throne room when Touchstone arrived, Ellimere on his hip, but not many. Jall Oren stood next to the large double throne at the far end, and gave the king a skeptical look as he approached. “Majesty?”

“Elli made the wonderful point that it’s never to early to start learning how to rule,” Touchstone said. “Didn’t you, princess?”

Ellimere pursed her lips. “Nah-ah,” she said. “Don’t wanna play with Sam.”

“Also that,” Touchstone said with a sheepish grin. He carefully sat Elli on Sabriel’s side of the throne, then produced a roll of paper and a pencil from his pocket. “Now you promised to play quietly, Elli, remember?”

She nodded, holding her hands out for the items.

True to her word, she was immensely well-behaved the whole time, drawing for a while then making small figures from folded paper, silently narrating whatever story they had as she went.

The funniest part, Touchstone found, was the fact that by tradition, courtiers were required to acknowledge any present royal family members as they approached the throne. Just as if Sabriel had been there they would have had to greet both king and queen, now they had to greet both king and tiny princess.

The first time that happened Ellimere looked up from her drawing and fixed the amused looking ambassador with a very annoyed ‘don’t interrupt me’ scowl.

“A politician already, I see,” the ambassador said, chuckling.

***

After the ceremony there was a feast, then a party with drinks and music and dancing. Touchstone remembered his own coronation as being just as grand, though he knew there had been considerably less people there…

“Dad? What are you thinking about?”

Touchstone looked at Ellimere with a smile, slowing the steps of their dance even further. She still looked every part the queen, the golden crown that he had worn now resting on her head. He shook his head, giving her hand a squeeze. “I’m glad I kept my promise,” he said. “I’m glad I was here for this.”

“I told you retirement wasn’t so bad,” she said, grinning. Then she leaned against her father, her head on his shoulder. “Today’s been perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

Touchstone rested his cheek against her temple, careful of the crown. He looked around, glancing over to where Sabriel was sitting with Nick (fifteen years and Touchstone would never get over the idea that the young man was now his brother-in-law).

Sabriel caught him staring and smiled. Her hair hung perfectly straight and long past her shoulders, shining as bright silver as the key motif on her surcoat. She had their eighteen-month old grandson cradled in her arms, though he was fast asleep. Nick looked up as well, grinning lopsidedly when he saw Touchstone and Ellimere.

“Our family is staring,” Touchstone murmured. “I think your mother might be silently teasing me.”

“As long as she’s not waking Torriel up,” Ellimere said. She glanced at her mother as well and rolled her eyes. “As if she wasn’t the one crying during the ceremony…”

Touchstone smiled. “She’s very proud of you, princess…Oh, I suppose I can’t really call you that anymore, can I?”

For a moment Ellimere looked immensely sad, then all at once she wrapped her arms around Touchstone and kissed his cheek. “Well…” she said quietly. “Maybe this time I’m having a girl, and you can call her that.”

“What?” It took Touchstone a full thirty seconds to realize what she’d said. “…Elli?!”

Ellimere just laughed and nodded.

“Charter.” Touchstone laughed and hugged her tightly, kissing her forehead. “I’m so happy for you. But quick, go tell your mother or she’ll be upset…” He gave her a nudge, following at a more sedate pace as Elli ran back to Sabriel.

***

The Ratterlin that day was the image of tranquility. Touchstone sat on the dock of Abhorsen’s house, looking out across the shining water, barely holding the fishing rod in his hands, thoroughly enjoying the calm and silence. It was the patter of feet finally that caused him to straighten and see a boy with curly dark hair coming over to him.

“What are you up to, Torriel?” Touchstone asked.

Torriel sat next to him, swinging his legs. “Nothing.”

“Where’s your sister?”

“Nana’s teaching her how to use a sword.”

Touchstone raised his eyebrows at the idea of his sixty-five-year-old wife teaching an eight-year-old how to use a sword (or why an eight-year-old would need to use a sword in the first place), but he decided not to comment.

“Will I be like Mom some day?” Torriel asked, leaning against his grandfather. “Will I be the king?”

Touchstone smiled. “You could be,” he murmured, slowly reeling in his fishing line. “Or you might be the Abhorsen like your great-aunt. Or a wallmaker like your uncle.”

“Could I be both?” Torriel asked. “Abhorsen and King?”

“That’s a lot for one person.” Touchstone looked down at him.

“Nana did it.”

“True,” Touchstone said. “But it was very difficult. Your Nana was – still is – a very strong woman. Your Mom too.”

He hadn’t heard Ellimere approach and started a little when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek. “You’re pretty strong too, Dad,” she said, sitting on Torriel’s other side. “This family is strong. All of us.”

Torriel hummed thoughtfully, tracing the scars on his grandfather’s palm.

They all fell silent then, though Touchstone was smiling as he stared out across the water. Everything had been leading to this, every end and beginning had carried him here to this moment, sitting with his daughter and grandson. Sabriel would call them into dinner soon, the same woman who had brought him back to life, who had stayed by his side. Who had given him Elli, and Sam, and indirectly Lirael and Nick…it was perfect. All of it. And he was glad that it was far from over.


End file.
